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Saturday, July 11, 2009

New Crayons: What's New on Our Shelves

Remember when you were a kid and getting new crayons was a big deal? Getting new books holds the same kind of magic for some of us big kids. Every week on Sunday, I post what's new in our box. Hope you'll share what you picked up from the library, bookstore or in the mail, too.

I wasn't able to get to the library this week but sometimes I need a break. I do however have more titles to share with you. And this week, as I promised recently, I'm highlighting literary works. From our library:Butterfly Rising by Yvonne VeraSynopsisButterfly Burning brings the brilliantly poetic voice of Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera to American readers for the first time. Set in Makokoba, a black township, in the late 1940s, the novel is an intensely bittersweet love story. Vera captures the ebullience and bitterness to township life, as well as the strength and courage of her unforgettable heroine.

I'm due for some armchair travel and after reading Camile's recent article, it seems serendipitous to pick up this title now.The Icarus Girl by Helen OyeyemiReview:The story of a troubled eight-year-old haunted and ultimately possessed by family secrets, this spooky debut novel from a 20-year-old Nigerian-born Cambridge student is sure to garner attention for its precocity and literary self-consciousness. The sensitive protagonist, Jessamy Harrison, born to a British father and Nigerian mother, writes haikus and reads Shakespeare, but regularly throws tantrums and avoids social interaction both at school and at home. As an intervention, her parents take her to stay with family in Nigeria for the summer. At her grandfather's compound, she encounters TillyTilly, a mysterious girl who seems to know everything about Jess and who, Jess realizes, is not visible to anyone else.I haven't read an Nigerian author I haven't liked. The reviews are numerous and all praising the young writer.

In the mail:The Darker Face of the Earth by Rita DovePublisher comments:...the first full-length play by Pulitzer Prize winner Rita Dove, is an Oedipal tragedy of interracial love set on a plantation in pre-Civil War South Carolina. The play has been read on Broadway, and has had full-stage productions at The Kennedy Center, The National Theatre in London, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among others.Haven't read a play in some time. I ready for a different genre. Looking forward to this. Of course, my tbr pile is huge. Still, how can I now put this on my teetering tower?

What did you pick up at the library, bookstore or received in the mail? Tell us about your multicultural finds. Drop us a link with Mr. Linky.